Swim club top-tier at state meet

The Durango Swim Club proved its swimmers belong among the top tier in Colorado this month.

Haley Benjamin, Mira Joyner and Anne Mummery all swam to top-20 spots at the Colorado State Age Group Swimming Championships on March 8-10 in Fort Collins.

Joyner, 12, took the top spot for Durango. She placed second in the 50-yard backstroke, setting a new personal record of 29.6 seconds. She was one place back in the 100 back, taking third in 1 minute, 5.15 seconds.

“Mira is a backstroke specialist, and we had some pretty big time goals for her – like a sub-30-second 50 back sprint. This was her time to shine,” DSC coach Suzanne Schieltz said in a news release to The Durango Herald.

Joyner also took 12th in the in the 200 backstroke, 14th in the 50-meter butterfly and 17th in the 200-yard individual medley.

Benjamin, 12, dropped six seconds off her previous best in the 500-yard freestyle for her best place of the weekend. Her 5:43.04 was good for seventh, rounding out Durango’s top-10 finishes.

She also placed 11th in the 200 freestyle and 13th in the 200 IM, and she would’ve taken 13th in the 400 IM after dropping 11 seconds from her qualifying time, but she was disqualified for a noncontinuous turn in the backstroke portion.

“It happens to everyone at some point. It’s a learning experience,” Schieltz said.

Mummery, who qualified for the high school state meet as a 14-year-old freshman last season at DHS, improved her backstroke times, too. She took 17th in the 200 back in 2:16.15.